SYMBOLISM OF THE GREAT MOTHER SABA AND RITES RELATED TO HER

The purpose of the study is to reveal the mythological symbolism of the “saba” leather wineskin, revered in the traditional culture of Kazakhs and related peoples.

The methods of structural-semantic and comparative analysis, the analytical school of K.G. Jung, the mytholinguistic school of S. Kondybai, as well as the concept of symbolic capital of P. Bourdieu used to analyze the Kazakh folklore, linguistic and ethnographic material about the saba wineskin, in which koumiss is sourd and butter is beaten.

The originality and value of the research lies in the fact, that the available ethnographic, folklore and linguistic materials about the wineskin-saba were interpretedby the author in a new way in the context of the assumption, made by S. Kondybai. The essence of S. Kondybai's idea is that the image of Sauap-khan in one of the versions of the epic "Koblandy" was originally a female character named Saba-apa and represented one of the incarnations of the mythological Great Mother.

The results of the study: the symbolism of the wineskin-saba as the Great Mother and the World Mountain is revealed, the connection of this symbolism with the images of a woman and a mare, and the special role of women in traditional rituals associated with kumis are explained. Process of butter beating in saba interpreted as cosmogonic act, in which the Great Mother creates the world.